Tales of Ten Swords
by Seijitsu
Summary: A series of drabbles and ficlets about various members of the Juppon Gatana. No unifying storyline. A few might be AU, but most will be within the context of the RK world.
1. Drink: Kamatari and Chou

** Drink: Kamatari and Chou **

"Why _did_ you stop me back then, anyway?" He spoke into his drink instead of at his companion.  
Chou glanced up sharply. "Hmm?"  
"I wanted to die." Kamatari gulped his sake down and grimaced. "At least then I would've died honorably than to have to go on living like this."  
"We-e-ll..." Chou drummed his fingers against the table top. "Are you telling me you regret not doing it then? That you resent me for that?"  
There was no answer.  
"At any rate, dying for someone who never appreciated you-"  
Kamatari slammed his fist down, making the dishes bounce and clatter. "Beaten! By two little girls... children, they were children! The brat wouldn't let me die, either! Am I really that worthless?" His words came out slurred; his face was flushed from the alcohol.  
"Even after all this time. None of the work you've done up until now makes up for it in the least?"  
"He was the only thing I treasured, the only... I couldn't even finish myself to be with him." He was crying now, working himself up into a frenzy. He got to his feet abruptly, bumping into the table, sending the sake bottle clattering onto its side, splashing onto the front of his kimono.  
Chou stood as well, grabbing Kamatari's wrists as his drunk friend wobbled unsteadily. "Killing yourself this way isn't honor. And what makes you think things will be different in the next world between you and him?"  
"Fuck you!" Kamatari screamed, lashing out in intoxicated fury. "You don't understand me! You don't understand anything about me! If I'd been born a woman! If his attention hadn't been leeched away by that whore and that kid! I-"  
Both of Chou's eyes were opened now, his expression completely different from the usual smirk and wink. With the alcohol clouding his mind and the tears clouding his vision, Kamatari failed to notice the warning signs.  
_Slap._  
The shock hit Kamatari with greater force than Chou's hand. He stopped struggling, arms dropping limply to his sides. "You... you..."  
"Dammit, Kamatari, no one is going to hold your fucking hand through your entire life! You think I don't understand you? I understand perfectly! Life's dealt you a shit hand. But what is that compared to what anyone else has been through, especially in this day and age? You know what, if you really think you're that much worse off than anyone else in this hellhole of a world, then maybe you should just end it! What's been stopping you up until now?"  
Kamatari's knees gave way and he sank shakily back down into his seat with a weak hiccup. "Do it, then! Because maybe I don't give a fuck anymore... maybe no one does!" Chou turned on his heel and began storming towards the door.  
Kamatari caught his sleeve, causing Chou to glance down in surprise.  
"Don't," Kamatari said hoarsely. "...Stay."


	2. Myouou: Anji

** Myouou: Anji **

Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night with their cries still ringing in my ears.  
And at other times it becomes so easy to forget. It's something I feel reluctant to admit even to myself, but sometimes, when the visions of that night fade from the backs of my eyes, only the ache remains, and I stop thinking about why it hurts. The pain becomes all I know. Dull, throbbing pain that's always there.  
A case of myopia, perhaps. I get so fixated on why I'm hurting that the thing that caused that hurt slips from my mind.  
To be honest, there's not much else to do except to fixate on my pain. What else is there for a prisoner to do? I've fallen from grace.  
Just as I forget the reason for my sorrow at times, at times I also forget just how much I deserve this sorrow. This is my punishment. This is what I deserve.  
Sometimes I forget the feel of your small hands in mine. Sometimes all I can see are the ashes and charred remains, not your smiling faces. And sometimes, when I hear your voices, it's only in the form of screams.  
Even now I'm sorry. Even now I beg for your forgiveness. I wasn't able to save you then, and now I've become so fixated on my own loss that your light fails to reach me.


	3. Mother: Soujiro and Yumi

** Mother: Soujiro and Yumi  
**

When Soujiro awoke that morning, he had that sure feeling he'd been dreaming about something significant, yet couldn't remember what it was. And, as with most dreams of that nature, the more he thought about it, the less he could remember. There was someone's long hair and soft cotton clothes, but... he couldn't bring back any more than that.  
"Boy, you're finally back?" Yumi started scolding him the moment she heard him open the door. "Why didn't I see you come in?"  
"It was late last night by the time I arrived, and I didn't want to wake you," he explained.  
"Today's an important day, you know, so hurry up and go eat breakfast!" She clicked her tongue in annoyance and straightened his collar. "Your clothes are a mess, did you fall asleep in them last night? You'll have to get someone to do your laundry for you, too. You look unsightly!"  
He couldn't surpress a chuckle. "What is it?" Yumi demanded with her hands on her hips. "What's so funny, boy?"  
"I guess this is what they mean by 'a woman's warmth,' huh?"  
"Wha... What're you talking about?"  
"Yumi-san, has anyone ever told you that you'd make a good mother?"  
She was completely flabbergasted. What was this empty-headed boy doing, saying things like that?  
He laughed and smiled that same ever-present smile. "No one else ever fusses over me this way, you're really like my mom, Yumi-san!" With that, he was gone, leaving in his wake a trail of confusion.  
"Like a mom... huh?" Yumi smiled a little to herself. "That dumb kid."


	4. Schoolmates: Kamatari and Soujiro

**Schoolmates: Kamatari and Soujiro**

One day while they were sitting by the chain-link fence that surrounds the school track, smoking cigarettes and eating lunches pilfered from the local convenience store, Kamatari turned to Soujiro and asked, "Do you remember how we met? I've been thinking about how I came to know all the people in my life, and you're one of the ones I can't quite place."

Soujiro could remember how he and Kamatari met. Maybe it was because Kamatari was such a social butterfly that he forgot. Or maybe because Soujiro himself usually only spoke when necessary, so others' words stuck in his mind more. He wasn't sure.

They were in their first year of middle school then. Kamatari came up to Soujiro during lunch and introduced himself. Later, she would tell her friend jokingly, this was because Soujiro's lunch looked good. "My name is Honjou. Honjou Kamatari." She'd stuck out her hand after the introduction.  
Soujiro had eyed her hesitantly at first, but eventually took the offered hand and shook it. "I'm Seta. Why are you wearing a girls' uniform?"  
Oh, yes. There was also that. Kamatari had been dressed in a girls' sailor blouse, paired with knee-length shorts in place of a skirt.  
"Because there's nothing that says I can't," she replied.  
Soujiro had merely shrugged and said, "Okay."

"Oh, I remember now. I was hoping you'd share your lunch with me." Kamatari tilted her head back and tapped her cheek, idly blowing smoke rings.  
"Hmm. Did I that day?"  
"No, you were a stingy bastard." She laughed and ruffled the smaller boy's hair.  
There was an easygoing air about Soujiro that Kamatari had always liked. That, aside from Soujiro's meal that afternoon, was what had drawn her in.  
_"Why are you wearing a girl's uniform?" "Because there's nothing that says I can't."_ That had been all it took to convince him.

It wasn't easy for Kamatari to find people who would accept her. Her own parents had disowned her at the start of high school when she'd told them she was a girl inside. The school made her dress like a boy. Kamatari hated it, she hated pretending to be something she wasn't.  
That was why she liked Soujiro. Soujiro never judged. Kamatari wasn't sure if it was because he was really that easygoing, or simply because he didn't know _how_, but it didn't matter. With Soujiro, she'd found the closest thing to acceptance she'd ever come across in her life.

"Doesn't it ever bother you that I'm a girl with a boy's body?" Kamatari asked her friend once, near the end of their final year of middle school. She'd felt by then that he could trust Soujiro.  
"Well..." unperturbed, Soujiro tilted his head to one side as though the question were equal in gravity to, "What would you like for dinner tonight?"  
"When I think of Kamatari, it's not as though I think of whether you're a boy or a girl. Kamatari is just Kamatari, right?"

In him, Kamatari had found someone who liked her for her.

Still... when she watched her friend smile placidly at everything that passed by him, Kamatari couldn't help but wonder if, someday, Soujiro would come to see her as more than "just Kamatari."


	5. Smile: Fuji

**A Giant's Smile: Fuji**

At first, the workers were hesitant about Fuji.  
Well, "hesitant" was putting it lightly. No matter how hard the police tried to convince them, many were still scared to the point of shaking of the gargantuan man.

Satou's son wasn't. Satou had lost his wife to consumption five years ago, and had no choice but to take his boy with him on whatever jobs he managed to secure. Some of the other men simply left out of their fear of Fuji, but this job was secure, it paid decently, and Satou couldn't afford to leave. So he worried about his son, and the giant monster, but could do nothing.  
He needn't have worried.

From early on, it was evident that the child had some sort of fascination with Fuji. His father thought it was morbid and unhealthy and dangerous, and it drove him insane with worry.  
At first, Hiroyuki's interest was perhaps a bit morbid. He, like many of the others, though Fuji was a monster.  
But, as the weeks passed, and Fuji showed no signs of bloodthirstiness or violence or any of the gory stuff that originally interested young Hiro, he found himself interested for an entirely different reason.

While his dad worked, Hiroyuki would usually play or do chores a safe distance away, though he coud always see Fuji working, towering above the trees. One day, he spotted the giant man taking a break by the river, scooping up water with his enormous hands and eating his lunch. Hiro snuck his way through the trees to the riverbank.  
"You're pretty amazing!" He shouted, to be sure Fuji could hear him from so high up. The giant man glanced down. "You work fast because you're big, but it's not just that, is it. Even though you're so huge, I can tell you're giving it your all and working as hard as you can."  
Fuji couldn't remembered the last time someone had been so friendly with him. An overwhelming sense of gratitude overcame him, and he smiled.  
Hiroyuki grinned in reply. "You know, in so many months, this is the first time I've seen you smile."


	6. Makoto: Shishio

**Makoto: Shishio**

"I heard that your son is starting training with a real sword," the neighbor said, chosing her words carefully.  
"Yes," the lady of the house sighed. "His master said he's much more advanced than the others his age, and wanted to get him started as soon as possible.""So it is true. When I heard Mrs. Nishimura say it, I thought it was just gossip." She took a sip of her tea and contemplated whether or not her next sentence would be proper. "You know I only say this because I care for you and your family... but, even with his talent, isn't he too young to be doing this already?"  
The mother smiled, but her eyes still showed worry. "That's what I said to my husband. I guess it's in a mother's nature to worry, but this is good for him. It's the boy's ambition to be a swordsman, and he's so talented... who am I to stand in the way of such a gift?"  
The neighbor held her tongue. She'd spoken her piece already; to say any more would be rude.  
"Besides," her hostess added after a brief lull in conversation, "He's no ordinary child, Makoto."


End file.
